Li Ming nodded subconsciously. What the Navigator said was roughly in line with his previous speculations, Adam definitely wouldn’t put himself in danger. He then asked, "Can you find it?" Igor was momentarily stunned, as this was almost one of the Empire’s most secret contingencies, and very few people were involved. How could he possibly find it? Li Ming realized he misunderstood the other party’s meaning and immediately said, "Then keep an eye on the Empire, and report to me immediately if there are any anomalies." The Navigator acknowledged and ended the communication. The appearance of Tank Guard faded from Li Ming’s face as he pondered the next move. The current priority was to obtain the X Level Genetic Seed. With the help of the fully complete Eternal Silence Star, his development progress wouldn’t take too long to reach 100%. However, at the moment, it seemed that there was no power in the interstellar realm to counterbalance him, but he wasn’t relaxing. While his relationship with the Three Great Civilizations hadn’t broken due to the Holy Castle issue, the Dominator Laboratory had extracted something similar to Source Material from corpses. Currently, some time has passed, and it’s unclear if there have been any latest achievements. "Mainly two things, the Holy Castle... corpses..." he murmured softly to himself. The methods Heckler prepared are probably almost ready. After the affair with the Chaotic Star Gap, it’s estimated that the Three Great Civilizations will close and even destroy the Star Gate Channel leading to the Holy Castle Base. If it can’t be jumped, it would take at least half a year to travel there in person, by which time it would be too late. However, he could descend via communication with the Holy Castle, catching the opponent off guard. The only issue is the Mimic Life Form of the Holy Castle, which can’t leave, needing the opponent to make a move. As for the Dominator Laboratory... Li Ming felt a bit hesitant. He certainly wouldn’t stop at evolving to the X Level Life Form, as the stage of Ultimate Life Form is the only way to have the capital to counter the Eternal Abyss. Without the power of the Three Great Civilizations, he might find it difficult to research the evolutionary route to a higher level. "But letting them conduct the research without intervention won’t work. Once they make a breakthrough, they surely will start planning again... increasing risks." Li Ming pondered. Once he gets hold of the X Level Genetic Seed, he will take action against the Dominator Laboratory, but it will still take a few months. He wouldn’t waste the time in between, he immediately activated the intelligent terminal to contact Anduin. He asked him to send a team of Star Gate builders to the coordinates he specified to build small Jump Star Gates along the way. The coordinates were near the Dominator Laboratory, so when the seed is in hand, he could jump directly there. Acting on two lines, his time was utilized to the utmost. After some thought, he gave Anduin another set of coordinates, this one leading to the Holy Castle. Since he was already working on two lines, he might as well cover three, to be prepared for any situation. After arranging these affairs, he entered the long-missed state of development. Without the assistance of a series of medicines, efficiency was slightly lower, but time could not be wasted. When he arrived at Sheffield’s secret base, the development progress had reached 69%. During the time spent with Anduin and others, it wasn’t convenient to utilize the Eternal Silence Star for development, otherwise, the progress would have been even higher. The secret base is located in a rather peculiar Star Domain. Outside the ship’s window were two massive colliding meteors, still frozen in the posture of their explosive impact, with the resultant debris forming a dense asteroid belt around, serving as a natural protective shield. The base was situated in the depth, as they proceeded, they docked in the dock, where the warship locked into the electromagnetic berth. The hatch opened, and Monika, reminiscent of a Black Swan, was already waiting there, still dressed in a black long dress, her hands gently crossed in front, serene and elegant, her neck subtly raised. "Father..." she nodded slightly, then looked at Li Ming, her gaze strange, naturally aware of the news about the Chaotic Star Gap. She clearly understood that Li Ming had now become one of the most distinguished individuals in the entire interstellar realm. Sheffield dared not delay and immediately asked, "How are the personnel and resources? I am going to start deploying the Genetic Seed." "Already arranged," Monika responded, "You can start at any time." Sheffield could not afford any delay, instructing Monika to take care of Li Ming. He himself headed deeper, as Monika led Li Ming to the assigned room. "Is there no external communication here?" Li Ming glanced at the intelligent terminal and looked up to ask. "To maintain secrecy, there’s only one external communication device here, all other external signals are in a blocked state," Monika replied softly. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝓷𝓮𝓽 "My master can descend at any time, no need to deliberately hide, just turn them all on," Li Ming said casually. Monika hesitated slightly, but did not reject, nodding, "I understand." When she brought Li Ming to the room, the intelligent terminal’s external communication had resumed, with several pop-ups appearing. "Tsk tsk, only contacting me now, the internal struggle within the Star Alliance is quite intense," Li Ming glanced at the message alerts, finding they were all from the Star Alliance’s negotiation officers. After sending Monika away, he tidied himself slightly, with Tank Guard reappearing, then returned the call. In just a moment, the virtual screen displayed an interstellar human with a smiling expression, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. "Lord Azure Dragon, I am an officer from the Star Alliance, you can call me Zhang Hengyu," he introduced himself. The name... Li Ming thought to himself, unsurprisingly, he heard the other party continue, "My grandfather was from Blue Star, from the same civilization as your student." He specifically emphasized, then added, "Of course, please don’t misunderstand, I am not trying to deliberately get closer to you, just hoping you find the negotiation process more comfortable." Li Ming responded very calmly, "The Federation contacted me ten days after the incident, the Empire established communication half a month ago, yet the Star Alliance... delayed until now." "I even thought that those captured people were not important to the Star Alliance." "You misunderstand." Zhang Hengyu smiled bitterly and softly said, "Actually, Chairman Gutierrez has been dealing with various impeachments since he returned. Those people are important, but Chairman Gutierrez values his position more." "You are quite talented," Li Ming couldn’t help but be surprised. He, of course, knew about the intense struggles within the Star Alliance, having kept an eye on it during his journey there. Gutierrez had faced multiple rounds of impeachment for losing Kashmir’s Spear and having a significant number of X Level Life Forms captured. It was quite a predicament, but also true to form, he barely managed to keep his position, with part of the reason involving the Dominator Laboratory. This wasn’t exactly a secret, and being so candid about it could even earn some goodwill. "Thank you for your kind words. If this negotiation fails, and I can’t make it in the Star Alliance anymore, I hope there’s a small place for me under your command," Zhang Hengyu said plainly, his manner of speaking indeed bearing a flavor of Blue Star Civilization. "I am growing to appreciate you more," Li Ming said casually, Zhang Hongyu’s smile becoming more pronounced, but before he could speak, his expression suddenly changed slightly. Two communications signals connected simultaneously, originating from Azure Dragon. He likely already had a guess in his heart. Once confirmed, the screen split into three sections, with Azure Dragon flanked by Costate of the Empire and Diwusi of the Federation. All were "old friends" who had previous deep engagements with Azure Dragon. This wasn’t Zhang Hengyu’s first contact. Before connecting with Azure Dragon, he had privately communicated with these two, inquiring about their terms. The aim was naturally to form a unified front and avoid giving Azure Dragon the chance to raise prices. Negotiation is an art, requiring maximum maneuvering to probe each other’s bottom line. What surprised him was that Azure Dragon didn’t give them a chance to offer terms, insisting that the negotiation wouldn’t start until all three parties were present. Li Ming didn’t give the three a chance to make greetings, immediately saying, "The Star Alliance is finally contacting me, Costate, Diwusi, now we can discuss things." Each sat upright with large think tanks prepared behind them. "Oh yes..." Li Ming feigned suddenly remembering, "I need to tell you all something, one of you offered me a high price in private to redeem all the captives." At this, the three’s expressions couldn’t help but change, with only one thought in their minds-- Who is being so underhanded!?